New cat doesn't want to go out!

[Italiangreyhound]

So our new rescue cat from RSPCA arrived at our house three and a half weeks ago. They said to keep him in for three weeks which we did. After three weeks he needed the vet so we took him in a carrier and brought him back. The plan was the next day to let him loose in the garden but it was raining so in the end we waited until today.

I felt the kids would enjoy seeing him explore the outside etc.

Anyway, we opened the back door and he bolted for the upstairs, definitely didn't want to go outside.

Part of me thinks this is good as our last cat was run over outside our house just about two months ago, but part of me feels sad. The outside is the natural environment for so many animals. Seeing bunnies running across a fried yesterday was so lovely and made me realise one of the reasons why I was pleased we did not get a couple of rabbits! Plus because he is all the time I am constantly cleaning out his litter tray as this stupid clumping cat litter is turning into cement!

So eventually we took him outside and sat on our garden seat (DD and I) and he looked around a bit. Then the next door neighbour made a noise with a ladder and he scooted inside. He is now busy chomping on some food.

Oh what do I do wise ones? please?

[Italiangreyhound]

Plus because he is in all the time I am constantly cleaning out his litter tray

Thank you.

[daftbesom]

I think it's just a gradual process. The first time my cats came outdoors we walked them round the garden and they were interested in everything but clearly very nervous - tails like bottlebrushes and ready to run for it at the slightest noise! But gradually they got used to the great outdoors. Your cat just wants to be safe and he's not sure about that environment yet. Do you know whether he was an indoor cat before? Anyway, clearly he feels safe in your house which means a lot too!

I would say just keep taking him out for short "walks" in the garden and he will get into the way of it. Could you link it with a reward of some kind to attract him out? Cat treat or something?

Good luck!

[RubbishMantra]

Try leaving the back door open, with you sitting outside by yourself, with a bag of Dreamies for him, and a book for you. Best he come out there in his own time.

You said cement-like litter. I put about 4 - 5 inches in, and the pee goes into neat balls. I use Worlds Best from Zooplus or Sainsbury fine clumping.

MCat roams the gardens backing onto our house. In contrast, little Monsieur never leaves the courtyard. Favouring the lavender patch to crap in and therefore killing it. I'm glad really, because he's not streetwise at all.

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

Mine were all very nervous on early outings but got used to it & they like Outside now (though really only on fine days. They look at me very crossly when I've made it rain)

I prefer them to use a litter tray still though. I never liked other people's cats crapping in my soil so I don't want them doing it to others. One of mine does it to me though (well she did but I've added big stones to all my containers)

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

I use the cats best wood based litter which also forms into balls - soft, easy to scoop, doesn't smell at all

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

m.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_litter/cats_best/14001

[Charis1]

we took in a feral born kitten from the cats protection league 5 years ago. she is sitting curled up in the crook of my arm right now, making me peer over her to see the keyboard. she never seems to mind my arm jiggling up and down while I type.

She hasn't ever gone outside since she arrived. She hides if we open the door, and runs back in if we carry her out. She obviously didn't have much fun outside in the early part of her life, and has just decided inside is the place to be!

it's ok though, we have got used to it. she is a happy, perky, lively thing, sometimes smelly, sometimes destructive, but wouldn't swap her for a million pounds.

She has never quite reached full grown though, so early life has left her slightly stunted, I think.

[cozietoesie]

It's probably best that I don't really respond to this thread because next door have got a new cat and I'm just back from clearing a large amount of shit out of my own newly dug and planted big flower bed. Pretty vile it was as well.

[Haffdonga]

Our new boy was just like this and extremely nervous. 6 weeks on and he is an outdoor fiend and races round and round the garden and up and down the trees each morning.

We were advised not to carry him outside but let him take things at his own pace. Don't let him out until he comes for food when you call. So the process was:

1. Leaving garden door open - dcat was equally excited and terrified looking outside from inside, then he would step out onto the back door step in the sun until hearing any noise and would scoot back in.
   
2. Accompanying dcat outside (only about 1 meter from the back door). He found a new 'safe place' under the barbecue cover and would scoot between back door and barbie repeatedly, seeming to test his safe route.
   
3. Leaving cat flap pegged open. Dcat gradually ventured a few meters further, always returning to back door and barbie if alarmed.
   
4. Leaving catflap only slightly ajar (so he could see a small gap and get the hang of pushing it open). Dcat ventured a little further to bottom of the garden.
   
5. Leaving catflap closed but with magnetic strip removed so no resistance when he pushed.
   
6. Putting magnetic strip back on so he got the hang of pushing against resistance.
   

The whole process took him about 2 - 3 weeks.

[Italiangreyhound]

Oh cat fans I am not adverse to clearing the cat poo, I agree, I would rather he does it in the tray! Than in my garden or anyone else's.

It's the wee. He must wee a lot and it turns to cement in the litter.

[Jackieharris]

Ours took a while to adjust.

Little and often, build it up slowly.

[cozietoesie]

Three tips to try if you're not already doing them, Italian.

Check the depth of your clumping litter - if you have it deep enough, it should form a pee 'ball' which can simply be lifted out. (I think many people put a half inch skim or similar in the bottom of the tray.)

Check what clumping you're using. I've found that some brands say that they're clumping but aren't really very good at it. Seniorboy has Co-op or Sainsbury's which suit him but I've also tried (for extreme cheapness - a mistake) LIDL and Tesco. They didn't work nearly as well.

Get rid of any plastic scoop you're using. They're hopeless. You need something with a hard edge, preferably metal like a flour scoop or a metal trowel - the latter available at Poundland type stores. That way you can get up anything easily, ball or not.

[PuppyMonkey]

My cat doesn't really like outside, it's just the way she is. She might come outside for a quick sniff around if we're sitting outside but she's not bothered otherwise. We have a litter tray in the back porch for her. I tried taking it away once but she just pood on the furniture in my living vroom instead.

[Italiangreyhound]

oh PuppyMonkey nasty!

How deep should it be! He's got two trays.

I got some non-clumping Heritage stuff today. The other is £4 and I was having to clean out both trays almost daily, I mean totally clean all new litter, so a lot of litter.

I wonder if there is any such thing as a natural ecco option, e.g. soil??????

[Italiangreyhound]

It's the time, the money and the land-fill in that order!

Our last cat was a kitten, took to the outside immediately and ended up not using the tray at all!

[cozietoesie]

I judge by eye - but I'd guess about 1 and a half inches to 2 inches is what ours have liked. Some cats might prefer less but that's about what ours have required to make them happy.

And I certainly don't clean them out every day although because I work at home, I can lift out soiling of either kind, make its little paper parcel with newspaper and dispose of it as the trays are used - so they pretty well always have trays that have no actual pee or poo in them. (The current cat actually comes to me and moans at me tells me he's used a tray if I'm not quick enough off the mark.)

It's just that if you have them at the right depth with clumping, they should set in an easily liftable 'ball' and what you describe sounds more like a flood of pee going across the plastic base and setting in a flat way.

I've tried soil, by the way - in extremis - and it went like mud. Maybe that was just me though.

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

The bumf on my woody stuff suggests 5cm so 2".

One fill of that lasts literally weeks. A 30L sack is about £18 but a fill is only 4-5L which costs £3. (Also the poos & wee balls can be flushed down the loo - carefully! - & when it's gone over the remains can go
In the compost bin. I use dog poo bags to carry the poo etc to the loo)

[Italiangreyhound]

Thanks guys, will consider.

The cat is safely back in having popped out after dinner unbeknown to me!

I don't know if it is just me but the idea of putting cat poos down the loo is a no no! It is not the size of the poo it is the massive amount of litter and wee my cat is producing!

[EnlightenedOwl]

mine goes out but he does not go far and to be honest really prefers it if he has access to the back garden and we are out there with him.
he will get more confident with outdoors but you might have to help him along a bit perhaps by sitting out in the garden with him, taking him on little walks (mine loves being taken for walks but we are off road location so it is quite safe, he is a bit tubby to wear a harness!)

[TheOneWiththeNicestSmile]

well with the pee balls in the woody litter I just crumble them into the loo a bit at a time, & if I do it carefully it all flushes away easily.

mine does block sometimes but I poke it with the long plastic handle of a back brush & that clears it

I'd much rather do that than put piles of poo & dusty crusty dry litter into landfill

[Iwouldratherbemuckingout]

I use the worlds best cat litter also - and it can be flushed down the loo so thats great. I have 3 indoor cats and it only costs me £20 a month - found cheaper varieties used a lot more and didnt clump half as well, echo it needs to be deep enough.

Reminds me - must go order more!!

[shaska]

I loooove the catsbest litter, it appears to be eco sound and saved me a fortune switching from catsan. What cozie says about wee balls is true. I have a depth of maybe 2 inches? And the wee forms into magic snowballs that can be flushed. I sometimes worry that it's 'flushable' in the sense that those wipe things are 'flushable' ie not actually flushable at all - but it's compostable therefore surely must break down the way other deposits do, and therefore is ok? I hope, anyway.

Once a catsitter thought when I said flushable I meant tip the entire trays worth in the loo and flush. That didn't go very well. But aside from that one time it's been brilliant.

40L bag £20ish from zooplus, I get through one every 4-6 weeks with two trays and two cats. Full change every 3/4 weeks, otherwise just scooping and a sprinkle of fresh on top. Smells quite nice and woody as well.

re outside, others have said all the things I'd say, but some cats do just seem to be homebodies and take a bit longer to get excited about the great outdoors. Don't fret!

[Italiangreyhound]

TheOneWiththeNicestSmile i guess I am just a bit ocd about things like loos!!

Maybe it is just me.

This worlds best cat litter, where can I get it???

Thanks guys.

[shaska]

I get it on zooplus, along with the beasts food: www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_litter/cats_best/14001

[shaska]

However I strongly disagree with their instructions that I've just read to 'let the clumps dissolve in the water'. The stuff isn't lying about water absorbtion, and if you tip a clump in and forget to flush, it is possible to come back and find that it's absorbed all the water in the pan, and formed a sort of sludgy lump that requires toilet brush action to disperse.